Have Mercy On Me, O God Series

INTRO.- ILL.- Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands. When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. "You’re running around with other women," she charged. "You’re being unreasonable," Adam responded. "You’re the only woman on earth." The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the chest.

It was Eve. "What do you think you’re doing?" Adam demanded. "Counting your ribs," said Eve.

No, Adam apparently didn’t run around on Eve but David did commit adultery with Bathsheba. And this Psalm is what David prayed after everything was said and done and after he had repented. In fact, this IS his prayer of repentance. This is one of the most honest and open-hearted passages in the Bible. David opens up his heart before God and holds nothing back. And it’s a prayer that all people should pray! Why? Because we’re all guilty of sin, maybe not his sin, but we are guilty of sin.

ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "If you look upon ham and eggs with lust, you have already committed breakfast in your heart." David’s sin started in his mind and eyes.

Matthew 5:28 “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

ILL.- A man sobering up from the night before is sitting through the Sunday sermon, finding it long and boring. Still feeling hung over and tired, he finally nods off. The preacher has been watching him all along, noticing his apparent hangover and is disgusted. At the end of the sermon, the preacher decides to make an example of him. He says to his congregation, "All those wishing to have a place in heaven, please stand." The whole room stands up except, of course, the sleeping man.

Then the preacher says even more loudly, "And he who would like to find a place in hell please STAND UP!" The weary man catching only the last part stands up, only to find that he’s the only one standing. Confused and embarrassed he says, "I don’t know what we’re voting on here, but it sure seems like you and me are the only ones standing for it!"

I don’t know of anyone in their right mind who would want to go hell if they knew what was there. And sin is the very thing that will send people to hell. Our only hope is in the Lord and He has plainly to told us that we need to do something about our sin.

Luke 13:3 “I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Repentance may be a bitter pill to swallow but later it will yield a peace-filled life!

ILL.- Preacher John Charles Ryle of England wrote: “Sin is the mother of all sorrow, and no sort of sin appears to give a man so much misery and pain as the sins of his youth. The foolish acts he did - the time he wasted - the mistakes he made - the bad company he kept - the harm he did himself, both body and soul....all these are things that often embitter the conscience of an old man, throw a gloom on the evening of his days, and fill the later hours of his life with self-reproach and shame.”

ILL.- C. S. Lewis: "Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms."

We all are rebels who need to lay down our arms and surrender to God and Christ. And Christ is our approach to God.

PROP.- David’s prayer of repentance after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1- A prayer of confession

2- A prayer of concession

3- A prayer of cleansing

4- A prayer of commitment

I. A PRAYER OF CONFESSION

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

This confession was more of a testimony about who God is than anything else. O God, you are merciful and compassionate.

ILL.- Lincoln Steffens once wrote a magazine article based on an interview with Mark Fagan, who was at the time mayor of Jersey City. N. J. Steffens asked Fagan several searching questions—how he stood up against corruption and graft, how he withstood the temptations of offered bribes, how he was able to face the opposition of those who ridiculed and smeared him. Fagan’s one answer to most of the questions was simply, “I have a way.”

Finally, Steffens got Fagan to tell what his “way” was. His answer was very simple. He pointed to a picture of Christ on the wall of his office and, referring to John 14:6, said, “He is the way.”